Love Is A Messy Thing
by S k i n n e y L o v e
Summary: AU, no war.  Young love is a hard thing to understand, and even harder for Aang.  With the complications of being a monk,  a Avatar, and a lovestruck teen, his life falters.  Katara turns into a rebel, rebelling against her best friend, and her betrothal.


**This is a story inspired by one of my friends, not a friend that I know personally, but a internet friend :] Well, this is a AU story. No war, Aang and Katara are in the same era to. Will get very angsty in some parts… This is a original story created by my friend, written by me :] Also, enjoy thanksgiving everyone! I just love holidays (only because of school breaks :P)**

Chapter 1. Reincarnation

Avatar Roku died only a few days ago, a vale of grief covered the world as the people mourned for their Avatar. They all knew that he would be reincarnated into the next nation, the next cycle, the next human. Although they knew that he would live in a new body, with a new soul, they will still miss him dearly. The people usually grow quite attached to the Avatar, their savior.

Despite the mourning, excitement was also building up. Within three days of the Avatar's death, the new Avatar is reborn. All hopes are raised to see who will be the lucky parents of the new Avatar. Many mothers are praying to the spirits, hoping their child would be born within the three day time period.

Among the excitement of being the parent of the next Avatar, there also came a disappointment to it as well. Since the new Avatar will be born into the Air Nomads, the birth parents will not be able to raise their child; instead he or she will be separated from their parents, to be raised by monks, or nuns, depending upon gender of the child.

A few years after the children are born they will be tested to see if they carry the bending trait, well, that's what they do in other nations, except for the Air Nation. Every Air Nomad is an airbender, because of their close connection/relationship with the spirits.

When testing the children to find the next Avatar, they will line up all the young toddlers, and one by one they will enter a room filled to the brim with toys. Among the thousands of toys are the four Avatar relics, the toys of the first Avatar. If a child picks all four, then their fate will be sealed. The Avatar picks the four toys because they are familiar to them. When the child turns sixteen they will be told of their destinies and sent off for intense training to become a fully realized Avatar, to become protector of the world.

The people weren't without an Avatar for very long. Within a few days of the passing of Avatar Roku, a small little baby boy with a dark tuff of hair on his head entered into the world. He let out a screeching kind of scream, letting everyone know of his entering/re-entering to the world. His spirit, being the Avatar spirit, has been born thousands among thousands of times. But this little free spirited baby boy did not know of his spirit. He will not know until his 16th birthday, like every Avatar before him.

The baby was named Aang. He fed upon his mother's milk for a few weeks after his delivery and then was taken under the care of his chosen mentor, Monk Gyatso to learn the ways of the Airbenders. From day one you could tell Aang was different. Instead of watching and learning from the world, he would sit and observe the nature around him, acting as if he already knew everything, yet he didn't. He showed signs of bending at an extremely young age, nearly from the direct start of his life small gusts of wind would bellow forth from his mouth after every sneeze, burb, or hiccup. The elders predicted him to be a prodigy, a bending talent gifted from the spirits themselves. If only they knew then that he was the long awaited Avatar. Oh how right they were.

Aang grew quickly, and before everyone knew it, he was a walking, talking, annoying toddler. He still mumbled nonsense most of the time, rambling of random new words he learned from the day, forcing them into awkward sentences that just didn't fit together. His innocence was just developing, and being in a temple full of boys of all ages, it probably wouldn't last long. It was now the rules of the temple were strictly laid upon him. If he was old enough to talk, then he was old enough to follow and listen to the rules. Monk Gyatso began to shave off the brown locks of hair the toddler grew, and soon Aang turned into a well-mannered monk, by the age of 5.

Currently, at this moment, the toddlers were being lined up, in front of the thousands among thousands of toys. Everyone stood on their toes; they couldn't wait to see if one of the boys from their temple might be the Avatar, today was the day their world leader would come back. Although, he still had many years ahead of him to become the leader, but still.

Aang just so happened to be around the front of the line, so he didn't have to wait long for his turn to go into the toy filled room. When it was his turn, everyone in the room, all the leaders from the nations sat on the edge of their seat, just like they have done for every boy that walked into the room. They watched Aang carefully. His big, round, grey eyes were wide with amazement as he gawked at all the toys. He wanted to grab all of the nearest toys in sight, but something, some force held him back.

He walked slowly, and surely. It looked like something took over him, like he was being held in a trance. The whole room was silent; everyone held their breath as the boy made his way to one of the Avatar relics. He bent down, and carefully, he picked up the relic, a big smile on his face.

"I mussed you!" His thick, five year old accent babbled out as he hugged the little turtle relic close to his heart. Everyone stared at the boy with even wider eyes, if possible. The little boy just addressed this toy like he has seen it before, like he knew it.

Aang was on the move again. The small turtle in his little hands, he made his way towards another pile of toys. It was a soft, shrill note in the air, a note only he could hear. He looked at a small little windmill toy, picked it up, and smiled. The toy was singing to him. Not to his ears, but to his soul. He held the second relic in his hands.

Aang made his way around the room, picking up and discarding toys as he went, but he kept the two relics close to his heart. Eventually, he came to the third and fourth relics, and soon he had his four toys chosen. The four Avatar relics, the Avatar himself, the room broke out into smiles, there before them, in a tiny 5 year old body was the world's most powerful human. So much power, belonging to just one, humble, little boy, everyone smiled and looked down upon Aang with new eyes.

It took several more hours for all the children to pick out their toys. Soon as the ceremony was over, a meeting was held. The elders of the air temples and the rulers of every nation now were discussing the fate of the small child with the big destiny.

"Monk Gyatso, you are the mentor of the Avatar, you are also one of the elders of the temples. I, the chief of the southern water tribe, propose to you a plan. One between my daughter, and Aang." Chief Hakoda spoke up, looking the old airbender in the eyes.

"I am listening," Gyatso replied simply, a small twinkle to his soft, light grey eyes.

"Katara, my daughter, has turned 6 several months ago. She has begun to show signs of waterbending, and she is a very smart, determined little thing. She is full of spirit and is very strong willed. Avatar Aang is 5, and well, we all know of his bending status. Avatar Aang, when we comes of age, when he becomes a realized Avatar, we could betroth him to my daughter." Hakoda spoke with sincerity, his plan was very good, Monk Gyatso thought it would be a marvelous idea.

"I agree to your plan, Chief Hakoda, lets send Katara out here for a few days, let her get to know Aang." Gyatso and Hakoda conversed for several minutes after that, and then, the meeting was called to a close.

Little Avatar Aang was playing out side, practicing a air blast. No one had taught him to do one yet, as they said he was to young, but, he decided to try and learn it himself. He studied the older kids preform air blasts, and whenever he could, he would listen in on a airbending lesson. Now, he was out alone, trying to see if he could do it. All he could do was a little soft breeze, and it discouraged him every time he didn't get it right. He tried many, many times, and then it happened. He preformed the movements again, and this time, instead of a breeze, a blast of air shot out of his hands, rustling the leaves in a nearby tree.

"YES!" The little boy screamed as he ran around in circles, giving off war hoots and hollers. Well, of course the air blast that he produced was nothing compared to one made by the older kids, it couldn't hurt anyone. But, it was a big leap for this little boy.

"Gyatso!" Aang ran as fast as he could, calling ecstatically towards his caretaker.

"What is it Aang?" The old, wise monk smiled lovingly at the child, his heart warming at the sight of Aang's pure excitement.

"I can make a air blast!" He proudly announced, his chest puffing out in pride.

"… You sure about that young one?" Monk Gyatso never heard of a child so young to get his first airbending move done, without an instructor to help him. He hated to admit it, but he was doubting the Avatar's words, although, the child, in a way, was not the Avatar yet... in an odd way.

"Look!" Aang pulled into his airbending stance, not the best, but decent enough. He whipped his little arms around, and obediently the wind obeyed its master's command and a small blast of air came forth. Aang squealed in delight once more, he looked at his hand with new fondness.

"Wow, Aang, I am truly impressed. You will do well young one, no doubt about that. You will be very successful in life." Monk Gyatso smiled warmly towards his 'son', a soft twinkle in his light, fading grey eyes. Aang returned the smile; his dark, stormy grey eyes pierced right through Gyatso. Suddenly, the dumb goofy look disappeared from Aang; it was replaced with a older, mature stare, going right through Monk Gyatso's core.

"You will teach me airbending." Aang said sternly, it was a command, not a question. His voice sounded deeper, if possible, and he pronounced his words clearly, his little five-year-old drawl unheard. The master airbender realized this as Aang's Avatar spirit, speaking to him, telling him of what he was supposed to do with the young child.

"Yes, Aang, I will." He replied softly, looking at Aang with respect. As soon as Avatar spirit came, it left.

"You will what, Gyatso?" Aang asked questionably, obviously unaware of his change of demeanor a few seconds ago.

"Oh, it's nothing Aang, lets get you to dinner, I'm sure your starving." Monk Gyatso took Aang's hand and together they walked through the long hall ways in the temple, making their way to the dinner table. Aang's little tummy gurgled nearly all the way, demanding food.

They ate a fulfilling dinner, after that, Aang was ready to go to bed. Monk Gyatso explained to Aang about Katara, he only told her that a nice young lady was coming to visit him in the next few days. Aang slept that night dreaming about the girl that was coming to see him. He had never seen a girl in his life, he wondered what they looked like. All he knew about girls was what the older kids told him, but they mentioned a lot of words that Aang didn't understand. When he asked Gyatso what they meant, his mentor slightly blushed and told Aang he would learn about that later on in his life. Answers like that always frustrated the young boy, he didn't want to wait for anything.

A few days later, Aang was jumping up and down excitedly, awaiting the arrival of Katara, the girl from the Southern Water Tribe. He couldn't wait, and was so excited to see a person from a different ethnicity. He just knew that her and him were going to be best friends, and he couldn't wait to show her his newest airbending move.

"Daddy, I don't want to go!" A small, little girl whined to her father.

"Katara, you'll love it at the Southern Air Temple! There is a very nice boy there who will play with you, and a very nice man who will take care of the both of you. You can play, and they have all sorts of neat animals that you've never seen before! You can soar in the air, and you can show off your waterbending." Chief Hakoda said smiling, he added the last part for good measure, and he knew Katara loved showing people her waterbending moves/stances. She had just started training with her Sifu a few months ago, when she turned 6.

"Well… It doesn't sound that bad... I guess." She seemed hesitant, a little confused. Part of her wanted to go, and the other was scared for not being with her daddy for a few days. "What if they don't like me, and they be mean to me?" She asked, her six-year-old grammar leaked into her sentence a bit.

"Honey, they will love you, I'm sure of it. They are very kind, loving people and they will never be mean to anyone, even if you were mean to them. Oh, look! There's Monk Gyatso on his Sky Bison, he's here to pick you up!" Hakoda pointed over towards the large, furry animal that was waiting for them on the shore, standing next to the base of a big, tall, cliff.. Or was it a mountain? Little Katara didn't know that it was the base of the Southern Air Temple.

As the boat hit the shore, they docked up against a rock, and out came Katara, one hand in her father's hand, and the other grasping a small little bag of her stuff. She walked slowly, shyly as she approached Monk Gyatso and his rather large beast.

"Hello Chief Hakoda, Katara," Monk Gyatso smiled warmly at the two, then he knelt down and shook Katara's little hand in greeting. "We are so happy to have you over, little Katara. Aang, my student, is so very excited to meet you. I'm sure you to will have lots of fun together."

"Its very nice to meet you," Katara bowed, but looked at her father hesitantly from the corner of her eye. He nodded, and smiled.

Katara and her father said their goodbyes, and then Gyatso lifted her up onto the Sky Bison.

"Katara, this is Sorra, she is my Sky Bison, also, she is going to have some babies, so her tummy is a little big right now." The old monk explained when Katara was all settled in the saddle, holding on tightly with her hands to the edge of the saddle.

Soon, they were flying, higher and higher in the air. The wind wisped around their faces, the cool breeze whistling around her hair. She smiled and was soon waving her hands in joy. The feel of flying was so great, so amazing. She was already addicted.

All to soon, it ended. They landed up on the temple, where a small boy waited, a large goofy grin on his face as he say a small bit of blue in the Bison's saddle. Katara watched him closely, he was about her size, bald like Monk Gyatso, and was wearing a light, creamy yellow and a deep happy orange training robes. A small little baby lemur perched on the boy's shoulder, it gave off weird chattering noises as it was munching on some kind of nut, or was it a rock? Katara did not know.

Monk Gyatso helped her off of Sorra, the wonderful flying creature. It felt funny to be back in the pull of gravity, her feet rooted squarely on the warm rocky floor of the landing strip. She looked around for her bag, but saw that Monk Gyatso had it safely in his arms, motioning for the little boy to come over.

She stared at the boy as he walked to her, and he stared right back. His eyes were a color she had never seen before, a deep, stormy grey, speckled with white and black hear and they're, making his eyes sparkle. They were very pretty, she noted, they were much different than the blue eyes of the water tribes.

Aang looked into her ocean blue eyes, they were beautiful and reminded him of the pretty gemstone, Sapphire. She had dark skin, not a brown color, but more of a deep tan. Her brown hair was wavy and long, he had never seen long hair before. Her eyes were large and curious, and she wore a dark and light blue dress, and short grey leggings that went a little past her knees.

"Hi! I'm Aang!" Aang said happily as he bowed a little clumsily.

"I'm Katara, its nice to meet you!" She curtsied, and then together they giggled at their 'manners'.

"I like your eyes," Aang said, pointing to them. "They are much different than the blue/gray eyes in the temple. Yours look like the ocean!" He said smiling.

"Thank you! You have nice eyes to! They are like.. grey…" She couldn't think of a example.

Monk Gyatso smiled, and held back a small laugh at their blunt cuteness. He then walked away, to let them have their fun together, and to put Katara's small bag in her room, the one right across from Aang's, and his room.

"Want to see my airbending?" Aang asked excitedly, Katara nodded quickly, and stood back to watch in awe as Aang created his little air blasts.

"Wow! That's sooooooo cool! Want to see my waterbending?" She asked him, just as excited as he was.

"Yes!" He stood back to watch, but instead of doing anything, the little girl just stood there, as she remembered something.

"Do you know where any water might be? I can't bend without water.." She trailed off.

"Oh! Of course!" Aang took her hand, and together they raced down the hallways, looking for the nearest fountain.

This was the start of a great friendship. Katara came every couple months when she was young, and when she got older, she came more frequently. Aang and Katara were the bestest of friends, they did all sorts of things together. Slowly, Aang's feelings for her grew, until he developed a little crush on the waterbender that came to visit him so often. Katara was a couple months older than Aang, she would turn her age before Aang did, but it wasn't very long until Aang was her same age again.

One time, Katara wasn't able to see Aang. She usually came monthly, or every other month, but this time, she hadn't seen Aang for 4 months, the longest they have ever been apart. It was when Aang was ten, and she was eleven. Aang missed her, and she missed him, it was hard for them to be apart for so long.

Aang was the most excited to see her. While she was away, Aang received his airbending tattoos, the mark of a master. He was the youngest in history to ever achieve this, and the other kids envied him in his class, but it wasn't anything serious. The air nomads are peaceful people, they didn't let little things like envy get in their way of friendships and life.

The tattooing was one of Aang's most painful experiences. Ever. He could not be sedated, for being sedated showed weakness. He had to tough this out, but it was hard for a ten-year-old to do that. Somehow, he did it. He thought of Katara the whole time, her smile and those pretty sapphire eyes helped him through it. He was doing this for her, he remembered when they first met, when they talked and dreamed about becoming masters of their element.

Aang was sore for days afterward, but he was proud. Bright blue, arrow tattoos covered his whole body. He admired them, and loved them. He was considered a man now, for being a master. But because of his age, he called himself an unofficial man. He was mentally a man, but not physically. Well, his mental wasn't much of a man yet... But it was not of a normal ten year old.

Today, Katara was staying for a week, and now, Aang was impatiently awaiting her arrival. He couldn't help but wonder what Katara will do when she see's his tattoos. His eyes peaked down at his hand, where a large blue arrow was. He smiled and looked up to see Sorra landing on the landing strip and Katara sliding down the Sky Bison's side.

"Katara!" A familiar voice shouted, Katara looked up to see a boy running towards her. Only, this couldn't be Aang… This one had tattoos. Where was Aang? But as the boy neared, Katara noticed the dark, stormy grey eyes, the same dazzling eyes she saw when she first met him. The boy with the tattoos was Aang, he mastered his element!

"Aang?" She called back, slightly hesitant.

"Katara," he repeated, confirming that he was the same kid she last saw.

"Look at you! You got a giant arrow on your forehead!" She giggled, her finger touching the tip of it. She smiled and traced the arrow down his arms with her eyes.

"How's your waterbending coming?" Aang asked her, a slight blush on his face from Katara's close examination of his arrows.

"Oh, you know, the same. I'm progressing fast, they consider me sort of a prodigy, but nothing to your extent. You are like, I don't know, they probably need a new word for how good and powerful you are at airbending!" Katara commented, remembering Aang's intense concentration and devotion to his training.

Gyatso held back a snicker at Katara's words. _The word is called being the Avatar, _he thought with a cheeky smile. Aang was like a Avatar prodigy, not just a airbending one.

"How close until you're a master?" Aang asked, his eyes twinkling with curiosity.

"Maybe a year, maybe a little more. If I did complete it in a year, I wouldn't be the fasted to master it, but it will still be unusual for one to master it at my age. Oh! How's Air Ball coming along?" She asked, knowing how Aang enjoyed playing Air Ball, and was probably one of the best on his team, or in most any team.

"Great! We got a game coming up today, you want to come?" He said happily, watching her face carefully. He loved talking to her, it gave him a excuse to stare at her face, to watch her carefully, and best of all, look into those beautiful azure eyes of hers.

Aang's been playing Air Ball ever since he started up airbending lessons. He was amazing at the sport, mostly because of his talent in airbending. He could send the ball flying faster than anyone, making even some of the toughest of kids fight their hardest to not run away from the path of the ball. The objective in Air Ball is to have the a ball of air knock the other opponent off of their wooden post, which is about 15ft in the air, and around 10 inches in diameter.

"I'd love to come watch… This time I'll stay out of range from the air ball though…" Last time Katara went to watch Aang play, she sat a little to close and a out of control air ball rammed into her forehead. It knocked her out and gave her the worst headache and a horrible, disgusting bruise, right in the middle of her forehead.

"Heh.. That'd be best.." Aang rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly… That stray ball cam from him, when he lost his concentration on the air ball while staring at her.

"Come on Master Arrow-Head, lets go have some fun." Katara winked at him, and Aang of course, thought of the perverted version of what she said. A pink blush crossed his cheeks. Katara, of course, didn't notice.

"Yeah! Lets go!" Together they raced down the long hallways one again, in search of someone to prank.

Well, given the time of day, they found no one to prank. It was the hour of the day when all the monks went for meditation. When one of the elder monks spotted Katara and Aang fooling around in the hallways, talking, laughing, and teasing each other, he grew irked and nailed Aang.

"Are you already skipping out on your duties? I knew a child so young should not be granted his tattoos." The elder monk, Tashi, chastised, ticking his tongue in disapproval.

"Er..Um.. What?" Aang was tongue tied, he knew Monk Tashi was strict and disapproving of him, but what did he mean by skipping out on duties? What duties?

"You don't know?" The old monk with the funny beard raised a curious, judging eyebrow.

"Honestly, I don't… I only received the title of being a Master a week ago, you guys gave recuperation time for my skin to heal from the tattooing." Aang replied, he was confused, and a little upset for the Monk's rash judgments.

"As you know, this is meditation hour. Every monk is required to meditate at this hour of the day. You becoming a Master makes you a monk. Now, you better go find a quiet spot… Away from womanly distractions." Tashi's eyes darted over to Katara, staring at her, almost threateningly.

A blush crept up onto Katara's cheeks, even more on Aang's. Aang was aware of what Monk Tashi meant, he had been given the talk on his 10th birthday, the Monks told their boys early. _Did Monk Tashi really think that's what they did…? Or maybe nothing to that extent, but something similar? Oh Spirits help me… _Aang's thoughts whirled in his head, embarrassingly.

"Yes, Monk Tashi." Aang bowed, putting his hands together in fists, so the tips of the two arrows met, then he bowed his head slightly. He turned slowly and walked down the hall, Katara followed him, several steps behind him. Aang was headed towards the garden. It was the most peaceful area in the temple, or it was according to Aang.

"Should I leave? Come back later?" Katara asked as Aang settled into his meditative form, on a large rock in the middle of the garden.

"You don't have to leave, stay here, moon peaches are in season. I know how much you love them, eat all you want." His eyes closed, and his voice turned emotionless as he began to meditate.

Katara didn't bother to reply, she knew he was concentrated. One of her favorite things about visiting Aang was the moon peaches. She loved all the various fruits and all the beautiful trees and flowers. She took a deep breath, letting the warm sun rays soak into her skin, the wonderful scent of ripe moon peaches filled her senses. Smiling happily, she walked over to the nearest tree and stuffed her stomach full of the delicious fruit.

Aang loved meditating. He did it all the time, whenever he had free time, or was just bored. He had a busy, carefree life, meditating kept him close with the Spirits. He never really knew why, but he could always feel the presence of the Spirits. At times, he could have sworn that they were communicating with them. At times he believed that he might be a Shaman, but he always discarded the idea knowing that if he were a Shaman, he would have been in and out of the spirit world whenever he meditated.

It has been 10 years since Avatar Roku died. The world was waiting impatiently for the next Avatar to be revealed, and even Aang admits that he couldn't wait to see who the Avatar was. _Maybe it is you. _The small voice in his head whispered, tauntingly, irksomely. No, he couldn't be the Avatar, he didn't have the best people skills, and besides, he wasn't the best leader. Sure, his bending was great, but there was plenty of other kids in his temple, and the others, that were also amazing… Just, he surpassed them all in mastering it. But just because he was good at it, doesn't mean he was the Avatar. _Or does it? _That annoying voice nagged him. Aang let out sigh, he occasionally thought about this topic, but it was pretty stupid to really think about it.

"Aang!" Katara's voice lifted him out of his deep thoughts, his concentration.

"Mmm…" he groaned almost silently. "What?" He asked, turning his torso around in a uncomfortable angle to look up at her.

"Your Air Ball game is going to start in a few hours, your team is already out there warming up." She walked around to the front of him so he wouldn't have to strain his back like that. The waterbender reached out her hands to him, he accepted them, and she pulled him up to a stand.

"Thanks! Well, lets get going!" He didn't let go of her hand, instead, her dragged her along as he ran to the Air Ball field. Or, it wasn't much of a field… it was area. He met up with his teammates and together they practiced and warmed up.

Air Ball was rather simple, not much warm up was needed. The younger boys would practice their techniques and the older kids would stretch a bit, then talk strategy. Aang was middle aged. He wasn't exactly a little kid, but he was not one of the older kids. So he, hanged out with both sides of the spectrum, but he mostly enjoyed being with Katara, although, Katara was not in Air Ball, obviously.

This game was against the Northern Air Temple, actually, all the games were. The girls did not play Air Ball, they just stuck to learning how to cook, sew, clean efficiently, all about the basics of animals and the breeding genetics, as they were the ones who had the large Sky Bison stables and the large Lemur exhibits. The girls usually learned all of this usually after they mastered Air Bending, as their mastery of the element was of more importance than the others.

"Gingu, please come to your post, Gingu, come to your post." A loud voice boomed, the game was starting, but Aang and his teammates inwardly groaned, Gingu was the second worst airbender in the temple, his twin brother, Ginju being the first. So, they were usually the team's lost points.

It was well into the game, the Southern Air Temple was winning by one, it was a pretty well matched game. That was, until it was Aang's turn. Aang was the best player, so he was played against all the older kids, that was part of his team's strategy. Kind of. Aang stood up on the post, a small smile on his face, he loved playing this sport. This sport was nearly his whole life, besides airbending, Katara, and meditation. Aang was accepted into the team at a younger age than most, so he was sometimes teased about it. But after the first game, they stopped teasing him. He was amazing at it. He scored points effortlessly, and he loved it. Soon it turned into his life, a major part of his life. Not one person could beat him, he was undefeatable… Or, at least, he was.

Little did Aang know, it was today that he would meet his match.

Aang was faced with a large, burly boy… or maybe he was more of a man. Aang didn't remember seeing him before, so he must be a older student filling in for a younger one. Aang wasn't nervous. Air Nomads were not violent people they weren't competitive. They did sports and competed for the fun of it, and to get together with other temples. But this one boy, he was a little rebellious. He was sick of Aang always winning, and he was sick of his team always loosing, to one, little boy who got his tattoos 'prematurely'. It was today, that he decided Aang was going down.

Aang created a air ball, and threw it up into the air, a goofy grin on his lips. He put his hands to his sides and stood like nothing was happening, but at the last possible moment, he jumped up and swung the ball right across the playing yard. It ricocheted from post to post, quickly it made it to the other side. Only, what happened next caught Aang by surprise. Instead of his mighty powerful ball knocking the other guy over, or at least staggering him, the other boy shot it right back at him. Aang wasn't suspecting it, and the speeding air ball slammed right into Aang's rib, cracking it.

Everyone went silent as Aang's body fell from the post and landed harshly on the ground below. He couldn't airbend a safe landing because he couldn't move his torso without further injuring his rib. The way he landed gave him a horrible whip lash and knocked him unconscious. It was a pretty serious, and unusual accident for the sport. It was only because of Aang being so shocked by the ball coming back at him that made him loose his concentration. A distracted person in this world, is a dead person.

"Aang!" Katara cried out, but she couldn't find herself to move. It was as if her body was stuck to the ground, like a force was making her stay there. Quickly the monks rushed in and hurried Aang to the doctor's room, getting treatment as soon as possible.

The Northern Air Temple's team was flagged and they were disqualified. The monks from that temple couldn't of apologized enough, they felt horrible. Monk Gyatso forgave them, but gave them a warning. If one of their kids ever hurts another not by a accident again, then they would never play against them again.

Aang awoke from his unconscious state about a hour after his accident. He was laying in a white, soft bed with white cotton bandages around his torso, squeezing him tightly. He tried to sit up, but a strong pain on his left side forced him to lay still. He groaned in frustration.

"Aang!" Katara said happily, she gave him a gentle hug, hoping to not disturb his body anymore.

"Hey," the future Avatar replied simply, a small, sly smile crossed his lips.

"You thirsty? You have any other pains besides your rib?" She asked him while getting a drink of water prepared for him, even though he hadn't answered her yet.

"Uh, I'm not that thirsty…" He replied, watching as she continued to get him a drink and then force it down his throat. "Um, thanks." A awkward silence followed. "Since when did you decide to play nurse? The only other pain is in my neck, I'm fine."

Katara blushed slightly, a little embarrassed. "Oh, sorry. I was worried about you. Your neck should hurt; you got a pretty bad whiplash. You are not fine! You got a cracked rib!" She chastised, looking at him disapprovingly, but her stern face broke into a smile. It was hard to be firm with him.

"A cracked rib is nothing compared to a broken one. I should be fine in a few weeks, right?" He patted his side to prove the fact that it wasn't a big deal, but instantly regretted it when a sharp jab of pain followed his pat.

"Aang, stop doing that, you are just making it worse. Now, I'm going to go get the doctor and let him know you are awake. Don't hurt yourself!" She walked up and left the room, her voice lingering in the air.

Aang sighed. He guessed an accident was bound to happen. He didn't get hurt a lot, and his was being pretty arrogant in the game, it makes sense he got hurt. He didn't take his opponent seriously enough.

He would probably not be able to play Air Ball again. Gyatso probably won't let him, he barely let Aang even join the team to begin with. It was right there that Aang decided to become more devoted to his classes, to listen to what other say and to start growing up. Air Ball was a childish sport anyway, the oldest kids on the team were 13, after that, they just dwindled off and got interested into other, more important things. He was the only master airbender on the team, so he is supposed to act like a mature adult, which was one of his vows.

Mostly Aang was telling himself this to help him get over loosing Air Ball. It was most guaranteed that Monk Gyatso would never let him play again, so he might as well try to cope without starting now instead of later. It was then, Aang decided; he was going to get a Sky Bison. He was beyond the age, and now, he was going to travel. When a monk receives their tattoos, they are free to travel the world for 2 weeks, get a feel of what being a nomad means.

So, soon as he could walk again, he was going to go out to the adoption stables. Go journey the world, but only for a week. He didn't want to be gone for 14 days. Maybe he could bring Katara with him. He smiled at the thought, and he began to think some more. His thoughts wondering from place to place, until be began to tire, and soon, his eyelids slowly drooped lower and lower. Finally, they closed. The young boy drifted off into a sleep dreaming of his life ahead of him, dreaming of Katara, and dreaming of what ever else there was to dream about. But mostly, he dreamt about the Spirits, and that mysterious world that lived parallel to his.


End file.
